Verizon Droid Turbo Smartphone Promises 2 Full Days of Battery Life
One of the worst things about modern smartphones is that nagging pang of anxiety that comes with seeing your handset’s battery life blink out of existence at the worst possible moment.
That’s where the new Droid Turbo comes in. Debuted by Verizon and Motorola during a press event in New York City, the Droid Turbo promises up to 48 hours of battery life, significantly more than most competing phones.
Two days without having to charge your phone probably sounds pretty good. And if that’s not enough, Turbo can get eight hours’ worth of power with just 15 minutes of charge time.
I sampled the latest member of the Verizon Droid family this morning. Though it’s not the sleekest smartphone on the planet, it certainly has my attention.
Tough but not bulletproof
Beyond its reportedly lengthy battery life, the Droid Turbo also sports some interesting build materials. Like Motorola’s previous Droid handsets, the Droid Mini and the Droid Maxx, the Droid Turbo features a Kevlar back panel to help make it both thin and durable.
For the Droid Turbo, though, Motorola has added your choice of either a metallic glass fiber or ballistic nylon back panel. Don’t get any ideas, though; this phone is most assuredly not bulletproof.
The hardware
If you’ve got a smaller hand, the Turbo’s 5.2-inch screen might be difficult to navigate with one hand. With a resolution of 2560 × 1440 — that’s higher than the iPhone 6’s display resolution — it certainly is beautiful to look at, however.
Inside, the Droid Turbo gets the latest Snapdragon 805 processor, which should make the handset plenty speedy for your everyday tasks. Around back, the Turbo gets a 21-megapixel camera that comes with a dual flash setup; Motorola says this will make for high-quality photos in low light.
Moto apps
Like the second-generation Moto X I reviewed in September, the Droid Turbo comes with Motorola’s Moto Actions, Moto Assist, Moto Display, and Moto Voice apps.
Moto Actions lets you wave your hand over the Turbo’s display to silence its alarm or incoming calls, while Moto Assist can automatically set your phone to silent mode at specific times, like when you’re in a meeting or heading to bed.
Moto Display provides you with notifications on your lock screen, though the text appears white on a black background to save power. You can also check those notifications by simply waving your hand over the phone’s display, tapping the notification icon.
There is one downside to the Droid Turbo, though. Despite the fact that Google’s Android 5.0 Lollipop will be hitting consumers’ phones relatively soon, Motorola loaded the Turbo with Android 4.4 KitKat.
Sure, Motorola promises a guaranteed upgrade to Android Lollipop, but you’re still going to be stuck with the older software for a bit.
Screen replacements
To further sweeten the pot, Motorola and Verizon have announced their Droid Turbo Screen Assurance program, which lets you get a free one-time screen replacement for your handset if it breaks within the term of your two-year contract.
The Droid Turbo will be available with 32 GB of storage on Oct. 30 for $199 with a two-year contract. A 64 GB version will be available for $249 and will come exclusively with the ballistic nylon back panel.
Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+ here.
